Deep Deliverance: The Deep Series, Book 3 (19 page)

“Different tax forms?”

“
Shopping
.” She downed her champagne and whirled around like a little girl. “Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. And planning. I can’t wait!”

Deana talked animatedly about Italian designers with Donte while Adin refilled his glass twice. Mentally relaxed, he settled back against Donte, who’d slung a casual arm around him. The deep, sexy rumble of Donte’s laughter vibrated all along Adin’s skin, sending his blood on a slow, pleasant journey down to his cock.

Donte’s ring hung loose and heavy on his finger.

He gave the thing a thorough perusal. Was it Donte’s family crest? Or something else—something he’d picked up on his travels? Did it have special meaning to him? The amount of time Donte had been on earth was inconceivable. The things he must have seen. And he was offering to share all that, and more…

“Adin, are you falling asleep?” Deana asked.

“I guess I can’t hold my champagne anymore.”

“It’s been a long day.” Donte pressed a kiss to his forehead. “A wonderful day. Very eventful.”

“I’ll say.” Deana stood and collected the glasses. “I’m so glad you shared this milestone with me. Please keep me in the loop from now on. Donte, I’m counting on you to make him call home every now and again.”

“I promise.” Donte and Adin rose to their feet. Adin helped Deana carry everything to the kitchen, where she hugged him fiercely one more time.

“I’m so happy for you.” She eyed him sternly. “If you don’t keep in touch, I will personally hunt you down and—”

“I will.” He kissed the top of her head. “I promise.”

“Oh, oddball. You’re going to be so happy.”

“I—” His voice broke.
How could he be happy?
How could he live with what he’d become?
“I hope so.”

“I
know
so.”

She saw them to the door. Stood on the porch, backlit by the warm glow from the bungalow’s welcoming entry light. As Donte unlocked the car with a negligent squeeze of his remote, Adin turned to wave, to take a last, mental snapshot of how happy Deana looked. He heard the chirp of the car’s alarm shutting off and then
—ka-boom—
a split second of mind-boggling pain, smoke, heat, confusion, noise.

Every sense was blotted out.

Every inch of him felt on fire.

The ground-shaking blast had hurled him almost all the way back to the steps where Deana had been standing.

Dazed, Adin rolled onto his back. He glanced up into smoke-tinged darkness, dizzy and sick, trying to figure out what had happened. He couldn’t hear. Thick, choking smoke made it hard to see. He blinked dirt and debris from his eyes and tried to sit, but something was holding him down.

Hands.

Deana’s hands.

Deana’s face, hovering over his, mouth open, screaming. Saying words he didn’t understand. Couldn’t hear because of the odd, oppressive silence around him.

Behind Deana, flames shot from a car at the curb. Pain everywhere. Pain… And an unfamiliar weight on his hand.

Oh, yeah…

Oh, no.

Oh, Christ, no.

Donte.

Adin started to roll again to push himself up, but nerve-shattering pain made the movement impossible. His heels scrabbled against the turf as he tried to get purchase, but dizziness and something else made that impossible, something like a broken string inside a marionette. He couldn’t get up. Couldn’t…

“Adin!” This time, he heard his sister scream his name. “Adin, don’t
move!”

He lay there while her hands roamed over him, under him, checking for broken bones. He rasped, “Donte.”

“I’m here.” Donte’s face appeared. He was covered in tiny cuts and contusions. There was a gash in his forehead. Barely any blood flowed. He looked like hell but he was alive…still undead…
whatever.

He was there, and his eyes were wild with fear.

Adin tried to lift his hand, but couldn’t. Was his goddamn arm broken again?

There were sirens, wailing in the distance.

Deana was staring down at him. Frowning. She’d torn her T-shirt off, first thing, and wadded it into a pad, but she held it between her hands like she didn’t know where to put it.

She looked green.

Things must be way worse than he’d thought. He braced himself to see what she was seeing. Lifted up onto his good elbow. Oh my God. Was that a
rib
sticking out of his chest?

It
was
a rib. Or…something. Some bone. A piece of a bone, sticking out of his chest.

Dimly, he realized how
not good
that could be.

“Oh, fuck me.” He laid his
head back down on the ground with a sigh.

“He isn’t bleeding.” Deana spoke the words with horror. Then she turned to Donte, angrily. “Why isn’t he bleeding?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The bomb had hurled Donte away from the car when it exploded. The driver’s side door had blown off its hinges, providing him with a kind of shield. Some injury to his lower leg was proving to be more than a minor inconvenience, but he’d managed to crawl across the lawn to the place where Deana frantically worked to save her brother’s life.

“Why isn’t he bleeding?” She’d shouted the words, but he barely heard them through the cavernous echoing blankness resulting from the blast.

He watched her search Adin’s body for answers, watched her as she sifted through all the possibilities in her scientific mind, and he knew exactly when she’d landed on the one that precisely fit her brother’s current situation.

She lifted her gaze to Donte’s and he let her see the truth. Or rather, he didn’t hide the truth from her.

In that moment of understanding, her eyes widened and she changed course, searching the debris on the ground around them. Quick as a snake, she picked up a chunk of torn metal and slashed her forearm open with it, neatly incising a vein. Blood flowed freely.

“Get his mouth open,” she ordered. And just like that, she’d answered her own question.

“Thank you.” He nodded toward her arm as Adin greedily lapped at her blood. “Adin didn’t know how to tell you—”

“Remind me to tell him that this was a pretty sucktastic way to find out.” She covered what she was doing with the folds of her shirt. “We’re drawing a crowd.”

The explosion had drawn her neighbors out of their homes. Already, a few had started filming the burning car with their phones.

Americans
. Did no one think to find a water hose or call 911?

After a few tense minutes a police car drew up, and another, and another. “Cazzo de—”

“Let me do the talking,” Deana ordered, pulling her arm from Adin’s lips and covering her wound with her shirt. “If I tell them this is a possible hazmat situation it will buy us time.”

“If my phone survived, I have the number of a federal agent I can call.” Donte dug in his suit pocket for his phone. The back was cracked, but otherwise it appeared to be in working order. He dialed Tuan’s number and waited.

“Nguyen.”

“Someone placed a bomb in my rental car. Adin is badly injured. We’re at his sister’s house.”

“Shit. Wait. I need an address.”

Donte gave it to him. “You should inform the council.”

“I’m on it.” Tuan’s breath came in pants, as if he’d broken into a run. “I can be there in ten, depending on traffic. Are there police on the scene?”

“Yes. Adin’s sister is stalling them.”

“Fucking hell. Why can’t things ever be easy with you two?”

“I ask myself that very same thing every day.”

Donte disconnected the call and picked up Adin’s pale hand. The ring he’d had created with his family’s ancient crest was a little loose on his lover’s finger. It looked as good as Donte had imagined it would. It looked exactly right on Adin’s elegant hand.

Donte had taken great pride in the knowledge that Adin had accepted him, even given that he’d left Adin little choice. He’d known proposing marriage in front of Adin’s sister was underhanded, but he’d needed the edge.

Her acceptance of their relationship warmed him. He could almost see their future together. Almost.

And then this…

He glanced over at the chaos on the street. Adin’s sister stood firmly before them, keeping everyone at bay while she explained the situation to the police and the emergency medical technicians.

She brought to mind a warrior queen, standing on the parapets of her castle or riding out onto the battlefield to repel invaders.

This Deana…she was worthy of an opera, at least.

He could love her.

He could be part of a family again, someday. A kind of family.

But someone wanted all his dreams to go up in flames.

Who could have done this? One of his old enemies?

“I saw something.” Adin gripped his hand. “Someone…dressed all in black. At the funeral, and again, here. Thought I saw…”

“Don’t speak. You’re injured.”

“No.” He blinked up at Donte. “
Go.
Hide. If someone’s after me, he’s after—”

“Shh. Your sister is keeping us safe for the moment.”

Adin smiled. “She’s totally badass, isn’t she?”

“Yes.” Donte smiled dow
n at him. “A veritable queen in her robe and flip-flops.”

“Wait—” Adin licked his lips. Paled. “Oh God. I fed. She—”

“Yes, lover. She knows. And she took the news better than anyone could possibly have imagined. Hush now.”

“Oh, Christ.” Adin’s eyelids closed again.

Donte stroked Adin’s hair away from his face. Soft. His hair was so soft. And now Donte knew it had curled when he was a baby.

Donte closed his own eyes and prayed to a God he hadn’t bothered keeping in touch with since the sixteenth century. He’d held Auselmo’s body and prayed. But Auselmo had died, and then Donte hadn’t.

Would never die. Because someone wanted Auselmo apart from me forever. How can this be happening again? How can I bear to lose another lover like this?

He didn’t know if he believed in the God he prayed to anymore or not. There were so many reasons not to. War. Famine. Disease. Natural disaster. He’d seen them all firsthand. Seen families torn apart. Seen unimaginable human cruelty. Seen everyone he’d ever loved die.

Everyone except Adin.

Adin’s wounds weren’t life-threatening for a vampire. He would heal. He would not die this day either.

This was a new day.

Long minutes passed while firefighters cordoned off the area and battled the fiery blaze. Deana spoke with police, who also canvassed the neighbors. News helicopters circled overhead, adding their noise and an utterly annoying spotlight to the cacophony.

“—on the way…Can you hear me?” Donte flinched when someone touched him. Dimly, he realized Tuan had arrived and had been talking to him for some time. He opened his eyes just when Tuan repeated the words, “Donte, can you hear me?”

Donte nodded but whatever reserves of energy he’d drawn on were growing depleted fast. “Help Adin.”

“I will. I promise,” Tuan reassured him. “I’ve got a medical team on the way. Are you doing okay? You don’t look so good.”

“My leg.” It was odd how he’d gone all that time without really noticing the pain, but now that Tuan was there he ached all over. “Hurts like a bastard.”

Tuan knelt beside him. “Which one?”

“Left.” Donte allowed himself to lean back, next to Adin. God, it felt so good to rest.

Tuan ran his hand lightly down Donte’s lower leg. “Okay. Oh, yeah. Jesus. That’s broken all right.”

Donte winced. “So I gather.”

“Do you have any idea who might have done this?”

Donte shook his head. “None.”

“Are you quite certain?”

“Of course.” Donte wiped away the sweat on his forehead. His hand came away sticky with blood. “Why wouldn’t I tell you?”

“I believe you’re ignoring the obvious. I want to know why.”

“What’s obvious? Someone just tried to kill us. If I knew who it was, I would certainly tell you, you may be assured of that. I don’t have a death wish.”

“What if it’s Boaz?”

“Boaz?” Donte asked, startled. He tried to rise. “Boaz would never harm me—”

“Stay down.” Tuan pushed him back. “Let my team check you out.”

“It wasn’t Boaz.”

“Are you so certain? You fired him recently, didn’t you?”

“He quit.”

“Does he see it that way?” asked Tuan. “Or did he find your loyalty to Adin impossible to live with? Didn’t you say he felt pushed out? Bitter?”

Donte bit back a curse. “Possibly.”

“You should consider protective custody. Just until we can figure things out.”

“Of course,” Donte agreed. Boaz would never—could never—harm him, but whoever it was might try again.

“I’ll arrange things for you.” Tuan pulled his phone from his pocket. “After you get medical attention, I’ll put you in a safe house.”

“Thank you.”

More ambulances arrived—apparently these were the ones Tuan ordered. The first to arrive took Adin, with Deana hovering over him all the way. The second team bundled Donte carefully onto a cot and started an IV of pain relief, and most important, life-giving—health-restoring—blood.

While they fussed over him, he had too much time to think.

Could
his newest enemy be Boaz?

Memories of the imp, of their time together, ran through his mind like a series of films. Boaz as a youth, leaving his family, taking his father’s place at Donte’s side. Two world wars. Men on the moon. Middle Eastern unrest, the European Union, Boaz on ocean voyages, trains, and planes. His aptitude with modern technology, his useful computer skills. His caustic wit, his dry sense of humor, his loyalty—never, ever questioned until recently—until Donte chose Adin, and Boaz went away…

Boaz, Donte’s driver, his majordomo, his factotum, his friend.

His
friend.

Boaz could not have turned on him. Not ever.

Chapter Thirty

On their first day at the safe house, Tuan was eating breakfast when Adin came downstairs. He was still stiff, but the miracle of his healing body—after a second brush with death in a single week—astonished him. This time, thankfully, no one had lost their life. Quick thinking on Deana’s part, along with proper medical intervention, meant he’d healed in less than twelve hours.

“Hey, Tuan.”

Tuan glanced up from behind his coffee mug. He wore a sky-blue button-down shirt under a shoulder holster. His jacket hung over the back of his chair. He put the mug down and smoothed his paisley silk tie. “You look well.”

“I am.” Adin sat down across from him. “Thanks to you and Deana.”

“How’s Donte?”

Adin seesawed his hand. “Physically, he’s fine. He still refuses to believe Boaz had anything to do with the bomb.”

“I know.”

“To be honest, I don’t necessarily believe it either.” Adin idly rearranged the silverware at his place setting. “I can see Boaz wanting to be rid of me, but I don’t believe he’d do anything that might harm Donte.”

“Maybe the bomb squad’s findings will lead us in a different direction.”

“Maybe. I hope so, for Donte’s sake. He cares for Boaz a great deal.”

“I know. It’s a tough situation all around.” Tuan took his plate to the sink and rinsed it. The safe house was a cookie-cutter suburban home, like all the others on the block. The interior felt homey, done up in beiges and blues. The art was match-y and mostly inspirational. Adin thought it looked more like a hotel than the Ritz Carlton had.

“How’s your sister?” Tuan sat back down with him.

Thoughts of Deana brought a smile to Adin’s lips. “I hope she’s still asleep. She has a half-million questions for me.”

“Yeah?”

“She’s got a curious mind, you know? Add that to the fact that Donte proposed marriage and—”

“He did?” Tuan leaned forward, a smile on his face. “And you didn’t tell Edward?”

“It was before the blast.” Adin lowered his gaze. “He asked in front of my sister. Can you imagine?”

“Smart man. You’d be forced to say yes. I take it congratulations are in order?”

“Possibly.”

“If you don’t call Edward and tell him straightaway, he’s going to kill you. And whatever you do, don’t tell him you told me first. Fair warning.”

“I see your point. I wonder what Bran will say.”

“He’ll be thrilled. He’s got a girlfriend. Did he tell you? Her name is Lacey. He met her at school. They did a gardening project together.”

“I’ll bet they got an A.”

“They did. They helped provide vegetables for the local food bank as part of a community outreach project. I think they grew sweet potatoes or…squash maybe. With his—” he made air quotes, “—
green thumb
no one will go hungry for months.”

“I’m glad he’s settling in. I miss him.”

“He misses you. You need to Skype. Use my laptop if you like.”

“Will we be here very long? I was hoping to go back home to Washington. It’s about time I get my life back in order.”

“I’d like to find out who wants you dead first, if you don’t mind.”

Footsteps on the stairs made them both glance up. Deana came in wearing a pair of men’s sweatpants three sizes too big. She waved sleepily and padded over to the coffeepot. Hands on the counter, she tilted her head. “Mug?”

“The cupboard above the pot.”

“Thanks.” She poured herself a cup and sat down with them. “Adin, you left your phone in my room and it’s been vibrating on and off for the last five minutes.”

“Did you see the name of the caller?”

“Barrett something?” She blew out a breath and took a sip of coffee.

“Barrett.” Adin sighed. “I can
not
catch a break.”

“Barrett, Barrett.” Tuan relaxed in his chair. “What’s he up to now?”

“I don’t know, he keeps texting me that he needs to tell me something. Do you suppose it’s important?”

“He probably just wants your attention. He’s not used to the word ‘no’.” Tuan leaned over and whispered something to Deana, who snorted with laughter.

She shook her head. “I know, right?”

“What?” Adin asked, afraid he already knew.

“I told her you’re clueless. That boy has a major hard-on for you.”

“I’m not clueless,” Adin countered. “I’ve known for a while I’m vampire catnip, but I’m apparently also catnip for…er…cats.”

The kitchen light gleamed off Tuan’s glasses for a moment, obscuring his unusual, catlike eyes. He grinned. “Possibly.”

“All right. I’m going to go up and check on Donte.”

Deana called when he was halfway up the stairs, “Don’t forget your phone.”

He leaned over the railing to say, “I won’t.”

Barrett had left two more text messages. “I need to ask you something.” And “Please, I need to talk to you, right away.”

Adin bit his lip, uncertain what he should do. Maybe the kid really did need something.

He went to the top of the stairs. “Tuan?”

“Yeah?” Tuan came into the living room. He was shrugging into his suit jacket, getting ready to go out. He glanced up at Adin while he fished in his pockets for his keys.

“I’ve got two more messages from Barrett. For a lot of reasons, I’m uncomfortable calling him. But he sounds like he needs help. Maybe you should call him?”

“You’re worried about a kid who drugged you and got you kidnapped?”

“What?” Deana’s tone was not happy. She came into the living room and glowered up at him. “A kid did what?”

“Thanks for that.” Adin gave Tuan his sourest look. “I’ll tell you all about it later, Deana. I’m going to let Tuan handle Barrett from now on.”

“I’ll give him a call when I can,” said Tuan. “Does that put your mind at ease?”

Adin nodded. “I appreciate it. I’m going to go spend some time with Donte.”

Deana’s eyes widened comically. “I’ll take that as my cue to watch television with the volume turned way up.”

“Very funny.” Adin said “goodbye” to Tuan and “later” to Deana, and headed for Donte’s room. He tapped on Donte’s door. “Are you decent?”

Donte’s low chuckle greeted him and he stepped inside. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it. “This isn’t what you had in mind when you asked me to marry you is it?”

“This? Life in a suburban box house with your sister and a brace of federal agents roaming around? No. I had my villa in Spain in mind.”

“We can go there after I close up the house in Bainbridge.” Adin sat on the edge of the bed at his side. “As soon as we figure out who is trying to kill you. Who do you suppose wants you off the game board for good?”

“No one has actually tried to kill me lately, except your toxic playmate Bran.”

“That was an accident.”

“Yes, I know.”

“It’s not Boaz.” Adin cupped Donte’s chin. “I know Tuan is worried it’s him, but I don’t believe it. It’s only me he despises. He’d never do anything to harm you.”

“Your cool hand feels very nice.” Donte used Adin’s hand to cover his eyes. “My head aches fiercely.”

“Mm. That’s too bad.” As he scrambled onto the bed to sit astride Donte, Adin kept his hand where his lover had placed it. “I did hope I could take your mind off things.”

“Oh.” Donte grinned. “I take your point.”

“But if you have a headache…” Adin gave a little shimmy of his hips, and Donte’s cock thickened beneath him. “I hate to keep you from your rest.”

“You know what? I’m feeling better already.”

“My hands must be magic.” Adin shifted again, eliciting a needy groan from Donte.

“Oh, yes.” Donte covered Adin’s hands with his. “Your magic hands always make me feel better.”

Adin swept his hands down the sides of Donte’s face, over his jaw, along his neck. He followed the line of Donte’s shoulders, his upper arms, his forearms, and finally, he clasped their hands together.

Donte lifted the hand that wore his ring and kissed it reverently. “Più amato.”

“Best beloved.” Adin smiled down at his lover.
So beautiful.
Donte’s dark hair was just a little too long. When Adin gave it a tug, it curled playfully around his finger. He kissed Donte’s forehead, the tip of his nose. Each eyelid, his cheeks, his chin, the stubbled planes of his jaw. His neck. His beautiful, long neck.

Donte’s hand came up to wrap around the back of Adin’s neck, to hold him there, lips pressed against the cool, delicate skin. “Feed if you like,” Donte whispered. “I’m plump with all the fluids they gave me in the hospital.”

“No.” Adin shook his head. “I don’t need to feed. I want to taste your skin.”

He slid his tongue over the salty sweet expanse of Donte’s neck and into the hollow at the base of his throat. He lapped at the ridges of his collarbones, along the crests of his pectorals, and over the rising pebbles of his nipples.

He suckled at one, teasing and twisting it lightly with lips and fingers. He blew a thin stream of air along the flesh to cool it, and then gave the other the same lavish treatment.

He’d almost lost this. Nearly lost Donte. Nearly been killed himself.

It made each kiss sweeter, each one more tender, more precious to him in the moment he gave it.

“I love you,” he whispered, kissing his way down Donte’s body. “I love you, I love you.”

He made each press of his lips a benediction, each word an act of worship. Here, on Donte’s belly, here, following his treasure trail, here and here, in the soft thatch of curly hair, and here, on his gorgeous, uncut cock.

Fingers gripping Donte’s hips, he took his lover in his mouth. He sucked and licked until the head of Donte’s cock glistened, and then he cupped Donte’s balls in one hand and took him to the back of his throat.

Donte dug his fingers into Adin’s hair, gripping hard. He shifted restlessly, feet sliding over the linens. Adin pushed beneath one long, strong leg and kissed the tendons along the back of Donte’s knee. Once he’d place Donte’s almost-healed leg over his shoulder, he lifted Donte’s other leg, pushing both knees up to open him wide.

“No,
ah
.” Donte gripped Adin’s head. “
Jesu
.”

Adin took Donte’s balls into his mouth, one at a time, feeling them shift inside the thin, velvety skin that encased them. He slipped down further, to the strip of skin behind them, and licked his fill, driving Donte wild with tongue and lips and the barest hint of his teeth, and at last, he tasted the essence of Donte. Lapped at the deep, dark heat of him, until Donte was begging him for more.

Adin lifted his head. “Touch yourself.”

Donte gave up his death grip on Adin’s hair to grip his cock in one hand and his balls in the other. Adin kept Donte’s legs bent and stayed busy licking his hole, nipping, plunging his tongue as deep as he could, over and over, until the quiver of the muscles there and Donte’s deep, guttural moan let him know he was ready to come. Adin jabbed his tongue inside his lover one last time, and Donte’s entire body convulsed around him.

Donte’s knees drew up, his balls tightened, and his hole clamped down on Adin’s tongue. Adin wrapped both arms around Donte’s thighs and let him ride his orgasm out to its fullest.

For a moment, it seemed as though Donte would break his neck. In the heat of the moment, Adin didn’t even care. He rose and plunged his cock into Donte’s softening heat, and thrust until he came, long and hard, shuddering in Donte’s arms.

“Christ.” Every emotion clogged his throat: fear, longing, love, lust. “Oh, Christ.
Donte
.”

“I will never get enough of you, caro.”

“Per siempre,” Adin whispered against Donte’s neck before biting deeply, suckling at the wound. Just a nip. A small draught of Donte’s blood. Only to have Donte inside him, as he spent himself inside Donte.

After they shared a long, slow kiss, Donte relaxed his legs. Adin brushed kisses along the broken skin, sealing it. He made his way down Donte’s neck and placed solemn kisses over his heart. Donte wrapped his hands around the back of Adin’s head to hold him tenderly. He stroked Adin’s hair.

“That was…astounding,” Donte whispered. “Christ. What you do to me…”

Adin smiled lazily. “I want to kiss the past off your skin.”

“Pazzo. The past has a way of clinging.”

Adin pressed his lips to Donte’s wide, strong chest. “I have a lot of time to try wearing it thin at least.”

Donte laughed lightly. The sound was so sweet, Adin let his cheek lie on Donte’s chest to listen to it. “There is so much I’ll never begin to know about you.”

“Ask me anything.” Donte must have been feeling pretty expansive, if he was over being Mr. Mysterious.

“All right. What is your favorite color?”

“I’m partial to a certain hazel shade.”

Adin smiled at that. “What is your favorite game?”

“Baseball.”

“No.” Adin lifted his head. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I’ve even played a time or two. I learned the game from American GIs.”

“Card game?”

“Whist.”

“I’m not familiar.”

“I could teach you. We could play with Santos and Sean sometime. I’m certain they’ll remember how to play. It’s easy to learn, but difficult, as they say, to master.”

“Are we really going to do this?” Adin held up his hand. The ring was heavy. It still felt odd and foreign to him whenever he moved his hand.

Donte pulled him up so they were face-to-face. “We will do whatever you wish, caro. Always. I give my life entirely into your keeping.”

“I’m not sure I could keep a plant alive.” Adin shook his head. “You don’t know how irresponsible I am.”

“Yes. I do.” Donte arched up to kiss the tip of Adin’s nose. “And I don’t care. I don’t want a life if I can’t be with you. Not anymore. I can’t—I won’t lose anyone, ever again.”

“All right.” Adin nodded. He gave Donte the best smile he had because he owed him at least that. “All right. We’re going to do this. You and me.”

Donte pulled Adin close. “You should rest. We should both take this time while we’re safe to heal.”

“I know.” Adin laid his cheek on Donte’s shoulder. He draped a leg over Donte’s. Wove his foot between Donte’s ankles. It was such a human thing, to curl up with a lover. Such a homely thing. “Let it be known. For once, I’m taking your advice.”